A tour of the Lincoln School of Art and Design

The University of Lincoln’s new Lincoln School of Art and Design opened to students two weeks ago, but already a variety of courses ol and new have settled into the building.

Within the building on the Brayford Campus, which took 50 weeks to build and cost £11 million, over 60 staff and 1,050 students are housed or will be housed shortly, from 21 different creative courses.

The building has a lot of focus on making use of natural light, with large windows and light traps, without causing glare in eyes or on screens.

The Art and Design building also has state of the art labs and studios for the different subjects, and large open spaces for galleries.

Other large rooms can be split up however faculties would like to use them, so can house small workshops, lectures and work rooms all at once. Furniture can be constantly moved around too.

There are many rooms which can be shared by staff, undergraduates and graduates to promote collaborations. However, there is also a Graduate Base for postgraduates to work.

Dr Alec Shepley, Head of the Lincoln School of Art and Design, said: “I’ve been going in the building on tours since it was just a patch of gravel. Then they put the steel in, and the walls in — I’ve seen it happen all the way.

“Though nothing prepared me for the time I went on for the first time and it was finished. As it was empty, it just looked perfect.

“There were no things or people in it, just a perfect open space. I think for me, the idea of creating a space of potential is what an art studio is all about. It was very special, because it symbolised the potential of space — although we’ve moved everything in!

“It good to see people moving in an doing things in their own individual spaces. Each and every student now is doing the same thing — they’re reacting and responding to the space and they’re making new work in response to the new surroundings.

“There’s a real vibe around the place now, people are sending me emails saying how happy they are, how delighted they are with the space,” he added.